SUBCHAPTER I—GENERAL PROVISIONS

§171. Program for development of guayule and other rubber-bearing plants

The Secretary of Agriculture (hereinafter called the "Secretary") is authorized—

(1) To acquire by purchase, license, or other agreement, the right to operate under processes or patents relating to the growing and harvesting of guayule or the extraction of rubber therefrom, and such properties, processes, records, and data as are necessary to such operation, including but not limited to any such rights owned or controlled by the Intercontinental Rubber Company, or any of its subsidiaries, and all equipment, materials, structures, factories, real property, seed, seedlings, growing shrub, and other facilities, patents and processes of the Intercontinental Rubber Company, or any of its subsidiaries, located in California, and for such rights, properties, and facilities of the Intercontinental Rubber Company or any of its subsidiaries, the Secretary is authorized to pay not to exceed $2,000,000;

(2) To plant, or contract for the planting of, not in excess of five hundred thousand acres of guayule in areas in the Western Hemisphere where the best growth and yields may be expected in order to maintain a nucleus planting of guayule to serve as a domestic source of crude rubber as well as of planting material for use in further expanding guayule planting to meet emergency needs of the United States for crude rubber; to establish and maintain nurseries to provide seedlings for field plants; and to purchase necessary equipment, facilities, land for nurseries and administrative sites and water rights;

(3) To acquire by lease, or other agreement, for not exceeding ten years, rights to land for the purpose of making plantings of guayule; to acquire water rights; to erect necessary buildings on leased land where suitable land cannot be purchased; to make surveys, directly or through appropriate Government agencies, of areas in the Western Hemisphere where guayule might be grown; and to establish and maintain records indicating areas to which guayule cultivation could be extended for emergency production;

(4) To construct or operate, or to contract for the operation of, factories for the extraction of rubber from guayule, and from Chrysothamnus, commonly known as rabbit brush; to purchase guayule shrub; and to purchase, operate, and maintain equipment for the harvesting, storing, transporting, and complete processing of guayule, and Chrysothamnus, commonly known as rabbit brush, and to purchase land as sites for processing plants;

(5) To conduct studies, in which he may cooperate with any other public or private agency, designed to increase the yield of guayule by breeding or by selection, and to improve planting methods; to make surveys of areas suitable for cultivating guayule; to make experimental plantings; and to conduct agronomic tests;

(6) To conduct tests, in which he may cooperate with any other public or private agency, to determine the qualities of rubber obtained from guayule and to determine the most favorable methods of compounding and using guayule in rubber manufacturing processes;

(7) To improve methods of processing guayule shrubs and rubber and to obtain and hold patents on such new processes;

(8) To sell guayule or rubber processed from guayule and to use funds so obtained in replanting and maintaining an area not in excess of five hundred thousand acres of guayule inside the Western Hemisphere; and

(9) To exercise with respect to rubber-bearing plants other than guayule the same powers as are granted in the foregoing provisions of this section with respect to guayule.

(Mar. 5, 1942, ch. 140, §1, 56 Stat. 126; Oct. 20, 1942, ch. 617, §§1–4, 56 Stat. 796, 797.)

Editorial Notes

Amendments

1942—Par. (2). Act Oct. 20, 1942, §1, increased acreage from 75,000 to 500,000 and inserted reference to land for administrative sites and water rights.

Par. (3). Act Oct. 20, 1942, §2, inserted "to acquire water rights; to erect necessary buildings on leased land where suitable land cannot be purchased;".

Par. (4). Act Oct. 20, 1942, §3, inserted "to purchase guayule shrub;".

Par. (8). Act Oct. 20, 1942, §4, substituted "not in excess of five hundred" for "of seventy-five".

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Additional Acreage Authorized

Act Oct. 26, 1942, ch. 629, title II, 56 Stat. 1002, provided that: "The Secretary of Agriculture, in connection with the appropriations herein and heretofore made for such project, is authorized to plant, or contract for the planting of, not to exceed twenty-five thousand acres of guayule in areas in the Western Hemisphere in addition to the acreage permitted under the provisions of paragraph (1), section 1 of the act of March 5, 1942 (Public Law 473) [par. (1) of this section]."

§172. Authorization of Secretary to appoint employees; delegation of powers; cooperation with other agencies; allotment of funds; leases of facilities and disposal of water

(a) The Secretary is authorized to appoint such employees, including citizens of other countries, as may be necessary for carrying out the provisions of sections 171 to 173 of this title. Such appointments may be made without regard to the provisions of the civil-service laws. (Sections 321, 322, 324, and 325a of title 40 ¹ shall not apply to any nursery, planting, cultivating or harvesting operations conducted pursuant to sections 171 to 173 of this title.) All appointments so made by the Secretary shall be made only on the basis of merit and efficiency.

(b) The Secretary may delegate any of the powers and duties conferred on him by sections 171 to 173 of this title to any agency or bureau of the Department of Agriculture.

(c) The Secretary, with the consent of any board, commission, independent establishment, corporation, or executive department of the Government, including any field service thereof, may avail himself of the use of information, services, facilities, officers and employees thereof, in carrying out the provisions of sections 171 to 173 of this title.

(d) The Secretary may allot to bureaus and offices of the Department of Agriculture, or may transfer to such other agencies of the State and Federal Governments as may be requested by him to assist in carrying out sections 171 to 173 of this title, any funds made available to him under said sections.

(e) In carrying out the provisions of sections 171 to 173 of this title the Secretary shall have all of the authority conferred upon him by section 502 of title 16.

(f) The Secretary may lease at reasonable rentals structures erected by the Government with essential facilities for such periods as such structures and facilities are not required for the purposes of sections 171 to 173 of this title; and any part of land or structures with essential facilities acquired by lease, deed, or other agreement pursuant to said sections, which are not required or suitable for the purposes of said sections during the period the United States is entitled to possession thereof may be leased or subleased at a reasonable rental; and any surplus water controlled by the United States on land owned or leased by the United States for the purposes of said sections may be disposed of at reasonable rates.

(Mar. 5, 1942, ch. 140, §2, 56 Stat. 127; Oct. 20, 1942, ch. 617, §§5–7, 56 Stat. 797.)

Editorial Notes

References in Text

Sections 321, 322, 324, and 325a of title 40, referred to in subsec. (a), mean sections 321, 322, 324, and 325a of former title 40 which were repealed by Pub. L. 87–581, title II, §203, Aug. 13, 1962, 76 Stat. 360. See sections 3702, 3703, and 3708 of Title 40, Public Buildings, Property, and Works.

Codification

In the second sentence of subsec. (a), the words "and the compensation of the persons so appointed may be fixed without regard to the provisions of the Classification Act of 1923, as amended" were omitted as obsolete. Sections 1202 and 1204 of the Classification Act of 1949, 63 Stat. 972, 973, repealed the 1923 Act and all laws or parts of laws inconsistent with the 1949 Act. While section 1106(a) of the 1949 Act provided that references in other laws to the 1923 Act should be held and considered to mean the 1949 Act, it did not have the effect of continuing the exceptions contained in this subsection because of section 1106(b) which provided that the application of the 1949 Act of any position, officer, or employee shall not be affected by section 1106(a). The Classification Act of 1949 was repealed by Act Sept. 6, 1966, Pub. L. 89–554, §8(a), 80 Stat. 632 (of which section 1 revised and enacted Title 5, U.S.C., into law). Section 5102 of Title 5 contains the applicability provisions of the 1949 Act, and section 5103 of Title 5 authorizes the Office of Personnel Management to determine the applicability to specific positions and employees.

Amendments

1942—Subsec. (a). Act Oct. 20, 1942, §§5, 7, substituted "other countries" for "countries in the Western Hemisphere" and inserted sentence relating to inapplicability of certain sections of title 40.

Subsecs. (e), (f). Act Oct. 20, 1942, §6, added subsecs. (e) and (f).

Executive Documents

Transfer of Functions

Functions of all officers, agencies, and employees of Department of Agriculture transferred, with certain exceptions, to Secretary of Agriculture by 1953 Reorg. Plan No. 2, §1, eff. June 4, 1953, 18 F.R. 3219, 67 Stat. 633, set out as a note under section 2201 of this title.

¹ See References in Text note below.

§173. Authorization of appropriations

There are authorized to be appropriated such amounts as may be necessary to carry out the provisions of sections 171 to 173 of this title. Any amounts so appropriated, and any funds received by the Secretary under said sections, shall remain permanently available for the purposes of said sections without regard to the provisions of any other laws relating to the availability and disposition of appropriated funds and the disposition of funds collected by officers or agencies of the United States.

(Mar. 5, 1942, ch. 140, §3, 56 Stat. 128.)

§174. Omitted

Editorial Notes

Codification

Section was from the Department of Agriculture Appropriation Act, 1946, act July 5, 1945, ch. 271, title I, 59 Stat. 423, provided for the disposition of proceeds from the sale of guayule and other rubber-bearing plants, and was not repeated in subsequent appropriation acts. Similar provisions were contained in prior appropriation acts as follows:

May 5, 1945, ch. 109, 59 Stat. 152.

June 28, 1944, ch. 296, 58 Stat. 447.

July 12, 1943, ch. 215, 57 Stat. 415.

July 2, 1942, ch. 476, title I, 56 Stat. 597.

Apr. 28, 1942, ch. 247, title III, 56 Stat. 240.

§175. Lease or sublease of unsuitable lands; disposal of water supply

Subject to conditions prescribed by the Secretary of Agriculture, any part of the land acquired by lease, deed, or other agreement pursuant to sections 171 to 173 of this title, which is not required or suitable for the purposes of said sections may be leased or subleased at a reasonable rental during the period the United States is entitled to possession thereof; and any surplus water supplies controlled by the United States on such land may be disposed of at reasonable rates.

(July 2, 1942, ch. 476, title I, 56 Stat. 597.)

§176. Sale of guayule shrub to Reconstruction Finance Corporation

Guayule shrub may be sold to the Reconstruction Finance Corporation at a price reflecting the net realization from the sale of the rubber recovered from such shrub in mills operated by said Corporation after deducting the cost of milling and amortization of the cost of mills constructed for the purpose by said Corporation.

(June 30, 1945, ch. 215, §1, 59 Stat. 310; July 5, 1945, ch. 271, title I, 59 Stat. 423.)

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Transfer of Functions

Rubber Reserve Company dissolved and functions transferred to Reconstruction Finance Corporation by Joint Res. June 30, 1945, eff. July 1, 1945.

Executive Documents

Abolition of Reconstruction Finance Corporation

Section 6(a) of 1957 Reorg. Plan No. 1, eff. June 30, 1957, 22 F.R. 4633, 71 Stat. 649, set out as a note under section 601 of Title 15, Commerce and Trade, abolished Reconstruction Finance Corporation.